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The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson : The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Willson
Robert Hofler
delves into this shadowy, sometimes seamy world with particular relish. ...includes interviews with a number of Hollywood insiders ... offering a glimpse into a man and an era that may be past, but whose effects linger still.
Carroll & Graf
September 2005
325 pages
ISBN: 078671607X
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Biography
Henry Willson started off as a talent scout under
powerhouse mogul David O. Selznick, for whom Willson
procured women. The starmaker-to-be was therefore on the
lookout for promising newcomers—as actors, lovers and
sometimes both—when he received an unsolicited photograph
from a movie star hopeful named Roy Scherer. Unbeknownst to
Willson, the photograph of the handsome young man with bad
teeth would have not only a career-defining impact for
himself but, more importantly, redefine Hollywood’s concept
of the male heartthrob. Roy Scherer became Rock Hudson and
for the next twenty-five years Henry Wilson became the man
behind movie "beefcake."
The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson delves into Willson’s life
in explicit, unsparing detail. Variety reporter Robert
Hofler deftly chronicles Willson’s maneuvers to sidestep
the FBI's investigation into Hudson's sex life; the
starmaker's use of off-duty L.A.P.D. cops and Mob ties to
scare off Hudson's blackmailers; Hudson's "arranged"
marriage to Willson's secretary, Phyllis Gates; as well as
Hudson’s affair with a Universal Pictures vice-president to
help secure starring roles in Magnificent Obsession and
Giant. Additionally, the book digs into Willson’s other
star clients, including Robert Wagner, Troy Donahue, Tab
Hunter, and John Derek.
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